Centralia head coach David Orr only brings out the postgame cartwheel on special occasions. He recounted debuting the acrobatics in a pigtail game against Rochester in his first year in 2019 to advance to the district tournament.
Friday night was one of those special occasions.
The Tigers knocked off rival W.F. West 4-3 at Recreation Park for their second one-run win in the series this spring to win the Swamp Cup and snap a six-game losing streak. Centralia had not won since beating the Bearcats 3-2 on April 2.
“Our girls are just scrappy. It’s been rough since the last time we played them,” Orr said. “We lost a pretty key player, and we had to regroup and figure out who the next person up is. Sometimes when you’re not winning much, the little things like this can start a fire for our team.”
Both matchups between the Twin Cities rivals were eerily alike. Similarly to the first meeting, the Tigers only needed one inning of runs to prevail. Centralia scored all three of its runs in the fourth in the first game and scored all four of its runs in the fifth Friday.
The pitching matchup was also the same as three weeks ago, as Taylor Tobin took the circle for W.F. West and Hollynn Wakefield started for Centralia. Hits with running in scoring position were nowhere to be found for the Tigers early in the game, with Centralia failing on its first six at-bats with RISP.
After going 1-13 with RISP on April 2, the Bearcats cashed in with two runners on in the third Friday as Avalon Myers smacked a three-run bomb to left field for the first runs of the night. The Bearcats seemed poised to add to its lead with two subsequent singles on the next two at-bats with one out, but no further damage was inflicted.
The Tigers put two runners on in the fourth but couldn’t convert, but in the same situation one inning later, they delivered.
Freshman Ava Horst kicked off the fifth-inning rally with a single, and Adrianne Lynch scooted her down to third thanks to an error. Brooklyn Sprague walked to load the bases, and Payton Baumel stepped up to the plate and punched the first pitch she saw to center field to score two.
With the tying run at second, Chloe Bonomi brought Sprague home on an RBI double to tie the game at 3-3. Two at-bats later, Makenzie Erickson ripped an RBI single on the first pitch to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead.
“To be honest, I was just having some fun. I said right before the game that if we’re not having fun at the game, then it’s not our game anymore,” Erickson said.
W.F. West presented numerous opportunities to tie or take the lead over the final three innings. Myers didn’t move from second base after a one-out double in the fifth, and Bailey Armitage’s double was followed by a double play to end the sixth.
In the seventh, Tanner Tobin led off the frame with a single, and Gracie Elam reached on a fielding error by Sprague at shortstop. With two on and one out, Addison Froschauer popped the ball up near the third-base line, and it dropped untouched to the turf in between Bonomi and Wakefield but rolled foul for an infield fly rule and the first out.
Myers grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Orr chose to walk Karlee Coleman with two outs and the bases juiced. Pinch hitter Rayah Middleton grounded the first pitch to Bonomi at third, and she stepped on the bag to seal the Swamp Cup victory. The Tigers (5-7-1, 3-6 EvCo) burst into joyous cheering.
“This was so big for us. I feel like this win is a fresh look at whatever else we’re gonna face this season,” Wakefield said. “I feel like this has really got us going again and got the momentum going.”
W.F. West (7-6, 4-4 EvCo) went 1-17 with at least one runner on base, much to the dismay of head coach Kevin Zylstra.
“Credit to their pitching. We had the opportunities that just didn’t come through,” Zylstra said. “We just need to do better.”
Centralia’s week started with a 19-3 loss to Tumwater on Monday that Orr called “one of the worst games I’ve ever been a part of.” The Tigers lost to Black Hills 5-4 on Wednesday and were in desperate need of a win.
“The fans got everything they came to see. You can’t ask for much more than that,” Orr said. “Losing to Chehalis is tough. I don’t want to say beating Chehalis is better than beating anybody else, but when you lose to them, it stings a little worse. A win is a win, but they’re our rivals. We’ve been waiting for all three aspects of our game to come together, and today was the best with the three phases working together. As long as we can keep that rolling, we’ll be fine.
The Tigers will look to keep rolling against Aberdeen on the road Monday night, and the Bearcats will look to bounce back at Tumwater Monday night.
